How to Renovate a Restaurant Cheaply

Customers visit a restaurant to have a break from the day’s hustles and enjoy good food with good people. The overall atmosphere a restaurant offers has a huge impact on the clientele you attract and, most importantly, whether your customers return for more.

Remodeling your restaurant can go a long way in ensuring the business’s perpetuity. A refreshed décor sets the tone for your customers and helps them enjoy their days and evenings spent in your space.

Keep reading to learn our top tips on how to renovate a restaurant cheaply.

1. Give the Space a Fresh Color Upgrade

Changing the color scheme of your restaurant to something fresher and more modern is the easiest and cheapest way to renovate a restaurant (or any commercial real estate space). If your walls are looking dark, dingy, outdated, and stained, a new coat of paint may be just the thing you need.

When changing the wall color, consider how you can make the rest of the palette match. For example, by adding pops of color through new fixtures, furniture, placemats, pillows, or wall art.

Remember, the colors that you choose should go hand in hand with your environment. For instance, lighter colors make clustered spaces look cleaner and more spacious. While darker paints make a space feel more romantic and intimate.

2. Invest in New Lighting

Lighting plays a huge role in creating an atmosphere in your restaurant. For instance, skylights can magically convert small dining halls into spacious, cheerful areas that are perfect for kids’ parties and family meals.

On the other hand, soft and warm lights promote a casual and cozy ambiance that’s ideal for late-night dinners for two. Just make sure you don’t make your restaurant too dark when trying to create an intimate atmosphere.

A dining space that’s too dark will be uncomfortable for customers, especially when trying to read a menu (leading to flashlights being used all over the place). It can also become a hazard, with more people tripping over things and stumbling in the dark.

Likewise, it’s important not to choose lights that are too bright. This can make guests uncomfortable, especially when dining during the evening. It can also make the restaurant look harsh and sterile, making them less likely to dine again.

3. Create an Intuitive Restaurant Layout

Have you heard your customers complain about the restaurant being too noisy? Or about the tables being too close to the kitchen or toilets? Or even that the tables are too crowded to keep all their food on and get in and out comfortably? Do your waiters have a hard time maneuvering through the restaurant?

If these problems sound familiar to you, it’s time to rethink your restaurant layout. Having a large dining hall can create a noisy meal. If this is among your problems, consider how you create more intimate rooms.

While this can be a costly investment, it doesn’t need to be. Partition walls, partial walls, or privacy screens can make a big difference in how cozy, intimate, and spacious your restaurant feels. Likewise, too many walls can make the space feel cramped. Do an analysis of your restaurant and ask your waiters for their thoughts.

4. Create an Instagram-Worthy Bathroom

If you are among the internet enthusiasts, you‘ll already know that stylish, novelty, or fancy restaurant bathrooms are taking over people’s Instagram stories and grids. Almost all future-proofed commercial real estate buildings are jumping into the current trend of making their bathrooms “selfie-ready” when remodeling.

Despite initial thoughts, these types of bathroom remodels don’t have to be expensive. There are many small-budget bathroom remodel ideas that can bring your WCs into the 21st century. With just a small investment in new mirrors, stickers, wall art, and a fresh coat of paint, your restaurant bathroom can become sharable and likable (inspiring more customers to visit your venue).

There are many accounts and hashtags dedicated to images of customers enjoying their moments in photogenic restrooms. The bathroom’s privacy is what makes people get that intimate moment of taking a selfie. In case your restaurant’s bathroom goes viral, it becomes a perfect platform to promote your restaurant.

How to Renovate a Restaurant

Remember, restaurants are more than the meals that your customers come to enjoy. They offer customers comfort and a memorable experience. In fact, recent studies have shown a 10% to 20% increase in sales by restaurants that have undergone renovations.

If you are experiencing a low sales margin and feel like the space is the problem, create a budget for some small remodels and renovations, and see what happens. Even though it takes some investment to remodel a restaurant, many changes can be made cheaply, while still making a big difference.

Is your restaurant not performing the way you want it to? At Brotherly Love Real Estate, we buy all buildings and properties, including commercial real estate and restaurants. If you’re thinking about throwing in the towel and walking away with fast cash for your space, we can help.

We buy properties in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and San Diego fast with no closing fees. While renovations can make a property sell faster, you can sell a property as is to our team for a fair price.

Learn more about selling to an investor or contact us online today to get your cash offer.